Communities Tagged ‘1851’

Two locations in Rankin County have had this name, one at present-day Fannin, the other where Pelahatchie is today, twelve miles east of Brandon. The name is said to be of Indian origin, but not everyone agrees as to the meaning of the word Pelahatchie. Some say it meant “crooked creek”; others say it meant “so big”. Still others say the word meant “hurricane creek”. The first post office opened in 1851. After the railroad came through, for a time there was a post office named Pelahatchie Depot.
It is believed that the first settlers who came to this area had migrated from Virginia and the Carolinas and settled near the creek. Billy Goforth, a half Indian, is said to have owned extensive acreage in the area that is now Pelahatchie.
One of the first settlers in this region was a man named Seymoure, great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Robert Pennington, present-day citiZen of the town. He built a log house where Mrs. Pennington’s mother was born in 1852.
The location of the town of Pelahatchie is historically significant. In the early 1960′s a marker was placed by the Historical Commission of Mississippi at a spot four miles east of Pelahatchie to designate the boundary between the Choctaw Cessions of 1820 (Doak’s Stand) and 1830 (Dancing Rabbit).